I have agreed with myself that I will shoot only within a radius of 5 kilometers (3.11 miles) from Papendrecht – Holland.

Today I photographed the centre of my home town. The whole centre gave an abandoned impression. I think because of the rain. Because I always say to my students: “also in case of rain you can photograph”, I went out. Always wearing my hat (an effective tool during rain) and I had great fun. In the end it was time to get a real Italian tomato soup, which I made, waiting for me in my the kitchen now.

On this Valentine’s Day I visited some courtyards of Dordrecht in the early morning. A courtyard is usually a place with a number of most small houses around it. Originally the oldest courtyards were meant for sick, elderly or pilgrims. Sometimes it was courtyards for beguines. The later courtyards were only for the elderly and widows. I visited the oldest from 1755 and some other ones of the remaining seven courtyards. I like the early morning light because of the long shadows. This old town is recognizable by the many old houses with facades where time has passed. Even in the shade you will find ornaments that are worth keeping and being photographed.

Today – a cold day – I went back to the Hof van Holland, as two days ago I saw a garden through the old windows. Now I was treated to a beautiful sunshine. It felt like spring being in the air.

At this time of the year shadows are still long as the sun is not yet high in the sky at afternoon. I spent some time over there as the sunshine and the view was beautiful.

In the 12th and 13th centuries, Dordrecht developed into an important market city because of its strategic location. It traded primarily in wine, wood and cereals. Dordrecht was made even more important when it was given staple right in 1299.

On 18–19 November 1421, the Saint Elisabeth’s flood flooded large parts of southern Holland, causing Dordrecht to become an island. Nowadays Dordrecht is still threatened by storm from the sea and by high river water levels. Due to its location on an island, evacuation at a breach is only possible to a very limited extent. This afternoon however, I felt very save in the middle of the old town and visited several places in order the catch THE LIGHT OF DORDRECHT. Maybe it’s caused by the old ceilings which are there for more than 1000 years, maybe it’s caused bij the heavy doors behind which the people of Dordrecht live their lives.

Today I started to capture ‘THE LIGHT OF DORDRECHT”. During this month I will photograph some old places in the old town Dordrecht. Dordrecht was granted city rights by William I, Count of Holland, in the year 1220. In order to provide getting wet at this time of the year I visit the museum “Hof van Holland”.

This museum is situated in the former Hof van Holland, Zeeland en West-Friesland and was the High Court of the provinces of Holland (including West Friesland) and Zeeland, instituted as a separate entity of the government of the Counties of Holland and Zeeland in 1428. So, about 600 years ago some craftsmen were at work under my feet. Today I had a view from a window at the first floor, looking at a part of the old town called the ‘Hofstraat’.

The beautiful light at the street came alive when two passers-by came along. I had plenty of time to put my camera on manual focus as I decided to work with during this month of capturing the light.

As I read before, somewhere on the YouTube channel, after having positioned the frame you should wait for the people. So I did and indeed I was surprised to see someone coming by. Today my first attempt to capture ‘THE LIGHT OF DORDRECHT” ended successful thanks to the rain.